Last week we featured an article that discussed a phantom list of Democrats and some Republicans that may be gathering to oust the new speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
The article was widely blogged about and was the talk of the capitol for much of the week. Jason Embry reporter for the Austin American-Statesman wrote a piece where he discussed the validity of the rumors behind the list. He quoted conversations that his colleague Gardner Selby had with Democrat State Representative Trey Martinez-Fischer the alleged source of the list.
Though he denied having such a list Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer and Rep. Jim Dunnam acknowledged that there are a number of folks who are unhappy with the lack of work being done in the House this session in spite of a laundry list of issues needing to be addressed.
One could conceivably argue that Dunnam was the primary reason Straus won the speakership. He delivered the list of 60-plus Democrats who pledged to support anyone but Craddick. Without that list Straus only had handful of Republicans behind him. Now we are 71 days into the 81st Legislature and Straus already has wavering support from one of his most ardent supporters.
Lets none of us be daft. We are all well aware that Rep. Dunnams ultimate goal is to see the Speaker of the House turned over to a Democrat. He is of course the chair of the Democrat Caucus. But such fair-weathered support is a surprise even for Dunnam.
There are little more than two months left to complete the session and yet more than half-way through the House still hasnt taken up a single piece of legislation with the exception of honorary resolutions. The House finally posted a calendar yesterday that will be taken up tomorrow.
There were some obvious mitigating circumstances that have made the initial pace in the House a little slower than usual. With the turnover of the speaker it took some time for Speaker Straus to get things moving. However he announced his team on February 11. So whats the hold-up been?
This session more than 7300 bills have been filed. Thats a thousand more than were filed in 2007. At the end of every session a number of bills inevitably die because the clock simply runs out. However bills typically get taken up starting in February and in one week we will be entering April.
With voter ID transportation insurance reform the budget state schools and tuition deregulation being a handful of the items needing to be addressed time is running short. The longer Speaker Straus waits to take up these issues on the floor the greater the opportunity for representatives like Jim Dunnam to point the finger at him for not getting the job done.
If Republicans arent ready to give up control of the House they need to put the pressure on the leadership to get at least a few of the more significant things moving. Otherwise with the slim margin of Republicans and Democrats in the House will make it even easier for yet another change of power mostly likely back to a Democrat controlled House.
Last week we featured an article that discussed a phantom list of Democrats and some Republicans that may be gathering to oust the new speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
The article was widely blogged about and was the talk of the capitol for much of the week. Jason Embry reporter for the Austin American-Statesman wrote a piece where he discussed the validity of the rumors behind the list. He quoted conversations that his colleague Gardner Selby had with Democrat State Representative Trey Martinez-Fischer the alleged source of the list.
Though he denied having such a list Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer and Rep. Jim Dunnam acknowledged that there are a number of folks who are unhappy with the lack of work being done in the House this session in spite of a laundry list of issues needing to be addressed.
One could conceivably argue that Dunnam was the primary reason Straus won the speakership. He delivered the list of 60-plus Democrats who pledged to support anyone but Craddick. Without that list Straus only had handful of Republicans behind him. Now we are 71 days into the 81st Legislature and Straus already has wavering support from one of his most ardent supporters.
Lets none of us be daft. We are all well aware that Rep. Dunnams ultimate goal is to see the Speaker of the House turned over to a Democrat. He is of course the chair of the Democrat Caucus. But such fair-weathered support is a surprise even for Dunnam.
There are little more than two months left to complete the session and yet more than half-way through the House still hasnt taken up a single piece of legislation with the exception of honorary resolutions. The House finally posted a calendar yesterday that will be taken up tomorrow.
There were some obvious mitigating circumstances that have made the initial pace in the House a little slower than usual. With the turnover of the speaker it took some time for Speaker Straus to get things moving. However he announced his team on February 11. So whats the hold-up been?
This session more than 7300 bills have been filed. Thats a thousand more than were filed in 2007. At the end of every session a number of bills inevitably die because the clock simply runs out. However bills typically get taken up starting in February and in one week we will be entering April.
With voter ID transportation insurance reform the budget state schools and tuition deregulation being a handful of the items needing to be addressed time is running short. The longer Speaker Straus waits to take up these issues on the floor the greater the opportunity for representatives like Jim Dunnam to point the finger at him for not getting the job done.
If Republicans arent ready to give up control of the House they need to put the pressure on the leadership to get at least a few of the more significant things moving. Otherwise with the slim margin of Republicans and Democrats in the House will make it even easier for yet another change of power mostly likely back to a Democrat controlled House.
